by Kathleen Morison, Tel: 01786 833 717
Email: kmorison1@tiscali.co.uk www.mindandbodyhealing.co.uk
Kathleen Morison ©19th June 2008
In this essay I intend to introduce the therapy known as Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and show how it can be incorporated into Stress Management Training (SMT). Firstly I will recap on how SMT develops a system which becomes more in-depth as it evolves, leading towards mental and emotional components. I will then explain how EFT works, giving different methods of how it can be used, and how it can enhance other therapeutic models of treatment.
The split between body and mind can be attributed to the philosopher and one of the founding fathers of modern day medicine, Rene Descartes, in the seventeenth century. In order to secure a supply of bodies for dissection, he agreed with the Pope of that time that he would restrict his enquiries to a purely physical nature, leaving mind, soul and emotions to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Church. Prior to Descarte, Aristotle (over 300 years BC) had suggested such a connection when he said ‘Soul and body, I suggest, react sympathetically upon each other’ saying on one occasion ‘If there be anger, look to the liver.’ Thankfully, over the last couple of decades, systems have been evolving to remedy this situation.
SMT can help to rectify this age old split by using its various techniques. SMT starts with the premise that it is most helpful to clients to have an understanding of what stress is, how it physically creates long term and habitual muscle tension, and that excessive stress can lead to a reduction in breathing capacity, creating faulty breathing patterns. In the earliest stages of SMT, clients are encouraged to assess their lives and categorise causes of stress, identifying how this affects their physical body. They are then introduced to physical relaxation and breathing techniques. This alone can take the pressure off an individual and one of my own clients recently informed me that she was surprised at how calm she felt before taking her Master’s degree exams, after only two weeks of muscular relaxation and realising she needed to improve her time management.
After two or three weeks of SMT we can hope that clients have started making progress and are beginning to benefit from the relaxation techniques. They will hopefully be more trusting towards the practitioner now that a rapport has been developing, so this is when more complex concepts can be introduced into the training. In particular we next start to look at how the mind is used, how this affects behaviour and how we respond to stressful situations. Wherever mind, emotions, reactions, habitual behaviours and responses are observed, EFT can be used as an intervention or therapy in order to change unhelpful patterns.
So what is EFT? This is a therapy founded by Gary Craig, in America, synthesising a number of techniques taken from Kinesiology, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing), TFT (Thought Field Therapy) and NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). There are many therapies which now come under the umbrella of ‘Energy Psychology’, a term which links the concept that our minds and emotions are affected by more subtle energies in our bodies. Energy Psychology is described thus: “Energy Psychology, as most commonly practiced, combines a set of psychotherapeutic techniques with the tapping, massaging, or holding of specified acupuncture points. The approach has been characterized as the introduction of ‘acupuncture without needles’ into conventional psychotherapy.”
EFT is the leading therapy in this field and involves the client making statements in order to focus the mind on the problem being considered whilst tapping on acupoints. Just as clients undertaking SMT are encouraged to rate their daily experience of stress, before and after relaxation, EFT also uses a rating system of 0 to 10 to assess the degree of distress relating to the particular problem which is being focussed on. Normally 10 is worst but occasionally it becomes logical to reverse the scoring when a score of 10 is the best state to achieve.
EFT can be used for physical pain and the physical symptoms of stress, such as high blood pressure or palpitations, so the simplicity and effectiveness of EFT can be of great value in SMT. Whilst instructing a group on the necessity to learn better breathing habits, as per Session 3 in the SMT course, it became apparent that one client had a particularly poor breathing pattern, counting 24 breaths per minute. I immediately showed the group how to use EFT to tap on the acupoints whilst concentrating on their “constricted breathing”. Clients were asked to assess on a scale of 0 to 10 how full their breath felt and whilst the others in the group were able to make an assessment, ranging from 4 to 7 out of 10, (on this occasion 10 being best) this poor woman was unable to make an assessment at all, saying she was 0. After two rounds of tapping on the points the others had increased their assessments ranging from 7 to 9 out of 10 and the 0 had become 4. When she later counted her breaths the number had dropped dramatically to 15 per minute. With continued practice over the next three weeks this woman succeeded in achieving a breathing rate of 8 breaths per minute, using tapping along with awareness. She also reported feeling calmer than she had for years, since the month of June is particularly stressful for her as it contains a number of death anniversaries. In my opinion the use of EFT enhances the teaching of breathing techniques by freeing up the body’s energies in a deep, subtle way.
Another important aspect of EFT is to understand that the body’s energy system can become reversed. This is also identified in Kinesiology where there are known routines to establish whether a person’s energies are in correct alignment or not. If they are not, then no amount of tapping on the acupoints will rectify a situation as it is equivalent to batteries being the wrong way round in a torch, so preventing the flow of electricity to the light bulb. When someone’s energy field is highly disorganised or ‘scrambled’, it needs to be realigned before any improvement can take place. Donna Eden shows a number of ways to do this in her book Energy Medicine. EFT calls this “Psychological Reversal” and it is remedied by making a statement which is the opposite of how a person feels. For example, “Even though I feel intimidated by my boss, I deeply and completely accept myself.” In reality the person may be feeling inadequate or incompetent but the admission of the problem, together with a statement of self affirmation, leads to the body’s electrical energies or meridian energies realigning themselves in a coherent flow which then enables the negative thoughts and feelings to dissolve. A word of caution: it is rarely as simple as I have just mentioned as there are usually numerous hidden aspects to a person’s complex patterns of behaviour and thought.
SMT draws on Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) as both therapeutic models look at the mental and analytical approaches to understanding the source of behavioural patterns. Our complex reactions can be separated into components which include thoughts, feelings and behaviours. RET states “Stress is seen to originate in irrational beliefs and ‘….does not exist in itself; …only in the perceptions and reactions of the beholder.’ Thus the trainer is most effective in changing the client’s reaction to the problem rather than attempting to change the problem itself.” Similarly, CBT states “we falsely attribute most of our problems to external events and circumstances, when in fact, they are attributable to our own beliefs about those events and circumstances.” Both systems correctly, in my opinion, focus on the gap between the event and response, the ‘B’ stage of RET’s ABC system.
EFT is seen as a bridge between the talking therapies and energy work and is a radical departure from the traditional approach. Its core promise, called The Discovery Statement, is that “The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption in the body’s energy system.” EFT says that the problem lies within the meridian system of the body and that a blockage has occurred somewhere within one or more meridians. This means that the thoughts and beliefs around the incident become locked in and are very difficult to shift. The existence of such a blockage then prevents rational thought or behaviour and keeps a person stuck in a pattern which is possibly self-sabotaging or otherwise unhelpful. In my opinion, awareness alone is a slow way of changing an habitual pattern. Marie-Louise von Franz wrote, “this psychic growth cannot be brought about by a conscious effort of will power, but happens involuntarily and naturally…” EFT, on the other hand, can introduce that element of magic which helps bring about such natural shifts. By tapping on the meridians, while at the same time focussing the mind on the problem, the energy blockage is gradually broken up by the pulses and vibrations which are created by stimulating the acupoints. Positive thoughts and reframed perspectives can also be tapped into the meridians helping to alter old belief patterns and modes of behaviour.
EFT can work with an issue in the here and now, without delving into the past, or it may uncover the original limiting belief system which has led to the current pattern of constriction. It is both my experience and opinion, however, that if the source of the pattern becomes apparent, then the negative emotional energy which drives the present day problem can be totally eradicated. And it can happen rapidly. The beauty of EFT is that it can help a client revisit the past in a safe and comfortable manner without retraumatising them.
The Stress Mood Log used in SMT helps a person become aware of which type or types of negative thinking is their particular pattern, whether it be catastrophising, self blame, personalisation, mind reading, overgeneralisation, perfectionism or selective seeing. This can be used as a perfect avenue to EFT in that the Stress Provoking Thought can become the basis for the tapping sequence, having first rated the distress caused by the negative thought on the 0-10 scale.
Recently I worked with a client whose work frequently involved delivering presentations to colleagues and external bodies. She felt highly stressed every time she made a presentation, no matter how well prepared she was, how knowledgeable she was of her subject, or whether the presentation was to colleagues or strangers. The situation had been getting worse to such an extent that she was suffering mini panic attacks prior to each presentation. Using EFT we tapped on the physical symptoms of sweating, palpitations and anxiety which she rated as 9 or 10 out of 10, where 10 was worst. After only 10 to 15 minutes of tapping she used her imagination to feel what her reactions might be when she visualised herself at her next presentation. Her anxiety had dropped to 3 out of 10. We next discovered that the first time she had experienced distress in a ‘presentation’ type event was when she was 10 years old, having just won a school prize in poetry. Her original pleasure and pride in gaining the prize were rapidly destroyed by the comments and snide remarks made by her jealous classmates. After tapping on the emotions she had experienced then, she was able to project herself forward to the next presentation she was due to deliver with complete enthusiasm and positive feelings. Her anxiety had now dropped from 9 to 0. Indeed she told me later that the presentation had gone smoothly with just the normal amount of nerves prior to delivery.
One of the keys to successful EFT is to find the best and most appropriate sentence to tap and then to work around the different aspects of that particular issue. This is where the Stress Mood Log can be useful as it highlights the habitual negative thinking patterns. For example, the Psychological Reversal phrase, otherwise known as the Set Up phrase, could be, “Even though I always put myself down in front of my colleagues, I deeply and completely accept myself.” Where possible, this is spoken out loud three times whilst tapping on the side of the hand. The core problem, “I always put myself down in front of colleagues” is then repeated whilst tapping on each of the acupressure points. Quite commonly, clients report feeling tingles, or warmth, or changes in their energy, while they are tapping. They can feel light headed, or develop a headache, or feel cold and shivery, or experience a wide variety of bodily sensations as they continue the process. Although this is not at all similar to hypnotherapy, clients often say they feel ‘different’ or ‘altered’ after experiencing EFT.
Just as the Stress Mood Log is a useful route into EFT, so are the forms used in Session 6, regarding Self Esteem. Wherever negative early messages have been instilled in people, this becomes part of their early conditioning which usually distils into limited beliefs about themselves. The beliefs can be so deeply entrenched that they are unaware of how it affects their lives and how it contributes to their stress. I believe that many people suffering stress are experiencing a rift between how things are and how they feel intrinsically things ‘should’ be, if they were not restricted by their conditioning. When the early negative messages are tapped, along with some positive opposites to assist reframing, it is remarkable how a person’s outlook can change rapidly, bringing about long-term and permanent changes. For example, a Set Up phrase with reframing could sound like this: “Even though my mother told me I was dull and stupid and would come to nothing, I am open to the possibility that she was doing the best she could, with her own limited knowledge and perhaps she was trying to save me from disappointments in the future, which were her fears, not mine. And I forgive her for dumping her fears on me, and I am open to the possibility that she was wrong. I can choose to excel in my life. I can do it after all.” All this would be said whilst tapping on the side of the hand. Then, around the acupoints, the person could affirm, “I choose to be successful.”
Positive thoughts in the form of affirmations can be very helpful in changing a person’s negative patterns, hence the value in using Cue Cards. However, affirmations on their own can create a divide between what the person actually believes, subconsciously, and what they want to believe. In EFT terms these negative thoughts are called ‘tail-enders,’ which are the immediate thoughts which arise to counteract the positive statement. For example, “I am perfectly acceptable as I am” is negated by “No you are not, you are different and you don’t belong.” In my opinion, the use of positive Cue Cards is only truly helpful when attention is given to the negative mental responses which would otherwise sabotage or negate the positive statement. EFT can then eradicate the old belief system by tapping on the tail-enders.
Guided fantasy and the EFT process link well together. The mind does not know the difference between imagination and reality, and this can be proved easily to people by inviting them to imagine seeing a lemon, picking it up, cutting it open, smelling it, and then tasting it. All the senses have been involved in this exercise and nearly everyone reacts in some way, possibly by screwing up their faces as they enter the imaginative story, or by finding that the saliva in their mouth has increased. Where guided fantasy and the EFT process differ is that with the former, the client is led into a slightly altered state of consciousness and relaxation, short of hypnosis, and is usually led to places outside of their body, to places of fantasy or imagination. In EFT clients finds their own metaphor for describing what is inside the body. Stresses, fears, worries, anxieties or pains, are always located somewhere in the body. A client is asked to find the place in their body where they feel that particular anxiety, for example a worry about moving house. When asked to locate where the issue is seated inside the body, the client always has an answer, even though they have never been asked the question before and have never considered that they could bring their problem inside their physical frame. Every negative emotion is a blockage of some sort and can usually be described, sometimes most imaginatively, ranging from boulders in the belly, blue spiders called Herman in the sacrum, dark sticky clouds or Irish football goal posts! As each image is tapped on, it changes, transmutes into something easier, lighter, less dense, and with that comes a release of the negative emotion which has created the blockage. The body never lies but always reveals the truth of a person’s stresses and feelings, and in a way that these stresses can be released completely.
In conclusion, it is my opinion that EFT is the most wonderful and exciting tool to incorporate into, and radically change, the more traditional Stress Management Training. However, because it is somewhat new and unusual, it would benefit from being integrated with SMT which has a proven track record and is widely accepted. Perhaps, in the near future, the term Stress Management Training will be replaced with Stress Release Training. Emotional Freedom Techniques can bring complete freedom from constricting attitudes and beliefs, release from physical pain and improvement to faulty breathing patterns. Whist we will always experience stress on occasions, our reactions to those stressful situations can be dissolved completely, so liberating us to experience the situation in a refreshingly new way.